Mauritania Trials New Substrates versus Polymer

To mark the 50th anniversary of the creation in June 1973 of the ouguiya (MRU) as the national currency of the West African state of Mauritania, the Banque Centrale de Mauritanie is issuing a commemorative MRU 50 banknote on not one but three different substrates.

The current series of circulating notes is on polymer, but in this commemorative version, two are on a composite substrate – Louisenthal’s Green Banknote based on Hybrid ADDvance, which has a paper core with a thin layer of polymer either side, and Landqart’s Durasafe, which has a polymer centre fused with an outer layer of paper either side. The third substrate is Highlink™ Sisal from Oberthur Fiduciaire, which is a cotton substrate reinforced with sisal.

As well as celebrating the national currency, the other purpose of the issue on three substrates is to trial these in terms of security, durability and anti-soiling properties.

The denomination was chosen because the number coincides with the 50th anniversary, and also because it is the most used and frequently circulated note. As such, the issue will enable the different substrates to be compared over a reasonable period of time with a view to selecting the most suitable in terms of security and durability for future banknotes.

30 million notes have been produced – 10 million of each substate. They were designed and originated by Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions, and printed by Oberthur Fiduciaire and Giesecke+Devrient.

The key security features of the note, across all three substrates, is a Galaxy® micro-mirror thread from Louisenthal and SICPA’s SPARK Flow® DIMENSION in the shape of the denomination numeral and crowned with the Bank logo, the colour shift of each (gold-to-jade) synchronising.

The notes also feature a watermark with electrotype, see through image and UV printing.

In terms of design, some of the images of the polymer 50 have been included, including the Ibn Abbas mosque on the front, and a traditional teapot featuring a star and crescent, and musical instruments on the back. But they have been supplemented with images of the central bank headquarters (which has been refurbished and modernised but retains the original architecture), wind turbines and solar panels.

Durasafe and Highlink are both established substrates, but this is understood to be one of the first applications for Louisenthal’s Green Banknote, launched last year. In keeping with the sustainability theme of the note itself, the core of the banknote paper is an emission-minimising fibre mix of organic cotton and FSC® certified cellulose, and the carrier film for the Galaxy security thread comes from a certified recycling circuit with 70% recycled polyester.

The name ouguiya is the Hassaniya Arabic pronunciation of ugiyyah, meaning ‘ounce’. Its introduction in 1973 replaced the CFA franc. The current series, all on GUARDIAN® polymer, was introduced in 2018, replacing the old ouguiya at a rate of 1 new ouguiya to 10 old ouguiya.